Molly's Game Blu digital copy is iTunes only. (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

I just opened the package for my new Blu-ray purchase of Molly's Game, which is distributed by Universal for STX Films, which released it theatrically. Universal generally supports Ultraviolet digital copies and is also a member studio of the Movies Anywhere service.

I also just bought Phantom Thread, also a Universal release, and had no trouble redeeming that digital copy on Vudu. The back of the insert for Phantom Thread promotes Movies Anywhere.

However, I tried to redeem Molly's Game on Vudu and the code didn't work. I tried a few different times, thinking that I might have mistyped it, but then I noticed that the insert only says that the digital copy works with iTunes. It doesn't say anything about Ultraviolet or Movies Anywhere, and the back side is blank.

So it appears that the digital copy of Molly's Game being offered with the Blu-ray release is redeemable only at iTunes. This seems odd to me, since it's been several years since I've bought a Blu-ray that only supported iTune for the included digital code. I don't use iTunes for digital movies personally, and I thought this was an oddity worth mentioning here. Has anyone else had this issue with any other Universal titles? Given that so much of the industry supports Ultraviolet, including Universal, it seems weird to me that they would make this call on this title for some reason.

This is also the first title I've bought from STX Entertainment. Is this perhaps a situation unique to their titles? I don't know. Has anyone else experienced this with another distributed-by-Universal-for-STX title?

Even though I have the movie on Blu-ray and will primarily watch that, it would be nice to put it in Vudu with my other movies that are redeemed there. You can buy or rent Molly's Game directly from Vudu, but the digital code won't be accepted there currently.

Anyway, I just thought I would call this out and register it as a slight disappointment.

 

[Cranston37+]

STX is not a member of Movies Anywhere or Ultraviolet. All of their titles are the same way, even though they are distributed by Universal.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Even though I'm not happy about this, that explains it. Thanks!

 

[Todd Erwin]

Also, both Universal and Fox are no longer members of Ultraviolet. The two studios dropped support in favor of Movies Anywhere.

 

[Jake Lipson]

That's good to know, but because both UltraViolet and Movies Anywhere work with Vudu, that change wasn't terribly noticeable to me. Since this particular title is iTunes-only, if I want to get it into Vudu with all my other movies, I'd have to buy it there separately from the disc I already own. That's an annoyance to me, and I won't double dip in that manner.

 

[Cranston37+]

To be clear - Fox and Universal are still members of UV, they just aren’t giving UV licenses for new releases going forward.

 

[Todd Erwin]

That's good to know, but because both UltraViolet and Movies Anywhere work with Vudu, that change wasn't terribly noticeable to me. Since this particular title is iTunes-only, if I want to get it into Vudu with all my other movies, I'd have to buy it there separately from the disc I already own. That's an annoyance to me, and I won't double dip in that manner.

Yeah, I just got my review copy of Adrift, also theatrically released by STX, and did a double take when I saw the insert that said in big bold letters "Watch on iTunes."